Michael Appleton praised his Lincoln side for their clinical display in a 5-1 win at Cambridge

Anthony Scully played a starring role with two goals and three assists against Mark Bonner’s U’s, who had not previously lost at home since winning promotion to League One.

“Obviously the way we started the game was really good, scoring so early,” Appleton said.

“Sometimes that can be difficult, as we’ve seen in the past, but the lads kept themselves on the front foot. The first-half performance as a whole, there was so much to admire from it.

“There were lots of goals, efforts that hit the woodwork and there was a bit of ruthlessness about us when we defended our own box as well.

“In that first half especially there was a bit that’s probably been missing a bit so far this year.

“We moved the ball really well at times, sped the game up when we needed to in that final third, and we had a lot of quality.

“They had a spell of maybe 10 or 15 minutes where they put us under the cosh, to come through that and show a bit of quality again was great.”

On Scully, who starred with two fine goals and assisted each of Lincoln’s other three, Appleton said: “He was very good. He’s in a really good place at the minute, not just his goals, his general play as well. He’s enjoying his football.”

Cambridge boss Bonner declared Lincoln to be “no doubt, the best team we’ve played against so far”.

“(They) absolutely punished us every time they got a chance,” he said. “I thought their finishing was outstanding.

“They caused us more problems and asked more questions of us than anyone we’ve played against. We’re going to have to learn from it quickly because it’s a real insight into what the next level is.

“You can’t try and take too many fluffy positives from a home defeat when you lose 5-1, but at the same time there are moments in there where we looked a threat and we looked like we might be able to turn the game.

“We just crack on and get back to work again and try and respond as we always have. We know there’s going to be a few tricky tough ones along the way.

“A team that nearly got themselves in the Championship last year caused us a few problems today, that’s for sure.

“It’s a great challenge for us, it’s why we’re happy to be at the level and we shouldn’t expect for it always to go our way, so how we deal with that is going to be really important now.”